unresolvedvsunsolvedTell them apart

Which to use

“unresolved” and “unsolved” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#19,728
“unresolved” frequency rank
#20,256
“unsolved” frequency rank
39984
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature unresolved unsolved
Definition For which no solution has been found. Not yet solved.

Letter map: unresolved vs unsolved

Shared letters muted; letters that set unresolved and unsolved apart highlighted. Shared run: 8.

10 ch
unresolved
8 ch
unsolved

Pair insight - unresolved / unsolved

unresolved and unsolved are indexed as a confusable English pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 39984, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

unresolved is recorded at frequency rank #19,728, classified as anadj. unsolved is at rank #20,256, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ʌnˈsɒlvd/.

Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.

With a confusion score of 39984, this pair ranks #271,699 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of unresolved vs unsolved

Shared letters: delnosuv. Private to "unresolved": r. Private to "unsolved": -.

"unresolved" · 10 letters · shape VCCVCVCCVC  ·  "unsolved" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • unresolvednuresolved · unersolved · unnresolved · unreoslved · unresloved · unresolevd · unresollved · unresolvde
  • unsolvednusolved · unnsolved · unoslved · unsloved · unsolevd · unsollved · unsolvde · unsolvedd

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "unresolved" and "unsolved" be used interchangeably?
No. They differ by 2 letter(s) in length, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
Frequency check: "unresolved" vs "unsolved" - which ranks higher?
"unresolved" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #19,728 in our English list, against #20,256 for "unsolved". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

You've compared "unresolved" and "unsolved". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "unresolved" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "unsolved" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #271,699 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "unresolved" and "unsolved" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "unmoved vs unsolved". Nearby pair
  • Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes

Confusion rank #271,699 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list